So a few months after NBC decided to pull its lineup of shows from I-Tunes so that they could infuse their programs with anti-piracy software and jack up the prices decided to reverse the decision and give up at least two of their shows for free download online, via their website.

In my mind this is one of the best decisions any media organization has made to cope with piracy. This ranks way way above a lot of record companies offering .99 cent music downloads on iTunes. Of course, you can't give NBC too much kudos given that they were originally offering pretty much their whole lineup for free, then pulled it, then (allegedly in response to fan protest), made this final decision. I'm hoping to see other shows creep onto their website for free viewing in the future.

Is this a great idea or what? By offering the free views on their own website, NBC essentially creates an interruption-free advertising environment that is good for consumer and advertiser alike. The advertisers probably enjoy a cheaper alternative to buying a television commercial spot, and the consumer gets to watch the video for free, just like on TV, but with the added bonus of zero commercial interruption. NBC itself really gets a lot out of this bargain too- since the free show will no doubt drive up traffic to their site, they can gradually charge more and more of a premium for web advertising (fyi - ad costs are generally dictated by 'circulation' - magazine subscribers, channel viewers, 'clicks', etc.).

The only problem I see with this new solution is that, if the trend continues, and other stations and media enterprises catch on, it will lend itself to a more and more 'radio' society. By this I mean, consumer choice will go down and down, as the free or low-cost (ie, iTunes 99 cent downloads) content will be chosen by the mega-corporations as opposed to consumers. We are already seeing this with the iTunes set- If you were to purchase an entire album on iTunes at the download price, the cost of the whole album would be about the same as just buying it off the store shelf. So, to save cash people download the songs they like. Except, if you didn't buy the album, the only songs you've heard (and by extension, like) are the ones on the radio or MTV. In this end this would lead to a great restriction to not only consumer freedom, but I think also to artist freedom. So, we'll have to wait and see who catches on and whether or not the system is abused. But I digress...

Free, in my opinion, is much better than 'cheap', and I for one will always believe in free media. Many of you will gripe and say 'but, but... the artists have to get paid!!'. Of course they'll get paid, even if media is free. Advertising content has always been the main drive for revenue in many media forms - radio, TV, newspapers, magazines. Why not for all forms of media? Why, for no apparent reason, do we have to pay money for games, movies, and music???

Think of it this way: Any time you go to a movie in the theater (or even buy a movie on DVD), you have to sit through 15-20 minutes of previews, don't you? What if they replaced the previews with advertisements? You're still sitting there in the theater for the same amount of time, except poof!, you're suddenly watching the movie for free! You might complain that watching commercials is probably more boring than watching previews, and to that I say you're probably right. So just charge other movie studios a premium to attach their trailers to your movie! Once again, free media for the public, revenue for the artist.

Likewise, many music artists themselves have often campaigned for revenue based entirely on tour tickets, periphernalia, shirts and the like, instead of charging money to download the music. This makes perfect sense! Hell, you could rent out the walls of the auditorium for advertisements - this is a perfect advertising environment - a captive audience who are gauranteed to see your ads! So, artists are getting revenue, the venue gets ticket profits, and the label takes home the ad costs. And best of all, the consumer benefits most (like it should be) with free music downloads.

Sadly, games are the most difficult to infuse with ad revenue. Partially because we as gamers would feel ripped off if we came across in-game advertising that drew us out of the game world we wanted to be emersed in. Shame on EA games for doing this already, only they're still charging us the same exact price for the games!!! So what can be done in the game industry to lower the cost (and, ideally, make the product free) to the consumer, while still gaining revenue? Well, I have a number of theories on this one: A) offer all PC games as free downloads and use the same NBC tactic of using the free game to generate an obscene amount of clicks, with which you can demand higher advertising prices, B) pre-load console games with 10, 15, 20 advertisements, one of which will run (unskippable) every 5th or so time the game is turned on, C) if the game is set in modern times, I really wouldn't see how an in-game pepsi ad would draw me out of the game world. After all, it's the same crap I see every day driving to work! In fact, in some instances (a la, GTA), in-game ads might even lend the game a more 'real-world' feeling.

Of course there will be members of the gaming community who will balk at the idea of ads in or around their game. To that I say, just make two versions: A free one for people who can stand an in-game billboard or two, and a 50$ ad-free version for all the suckers or rich kids willing to drop the green for it.

I know I'll still get flak from a bunch of people who will say 'but, artists deserve more money than that!', so let's play a little game of apples and oranges, shall we? Take your average journalist, writing some really truly meaningful stuff that has the potential to change the world. Their salary is probably anywhere between 20,000-60,000 dollars a year. Compare that to Seth McFarlane, or any television writer (Joss Whedon, for instance), who are making MILLIONS for doing the same amount of, if not less work! And apparently millions of dollars isnt even enough for them, since they felt the need to strike for a few months....sheesh. And then of course you have the guys doing some really dirty work out there: cleaning pooh, cleaning dead bodies, cleaning sewers, making civilized life possible, and they don't get paid anywhere near as much as musicians, directors, or any other hack trying to exploit us for a quick buck.

Okay, so maybe this is going to turn into a rant...

What really steams my dumpling is people who play a video game, read a manga, or go to a sushi restaurant and suddenly feel like they know all there is to know about that mysterious culture of that faraway wonderland called Japan that all game fans must make pilgrimage to at least once in their lives.

The fact is that there is only one way to know a culture, and that is to go there. And not only to go there, but to be immersed in it. In the same way that you may get annoyed when an obvious out-of-towner walks into your local Starbucks and starts making assumptions about the people of your hometown, people of different cultures may be offended when we make assumptions on their culture based on our experiences with their pop culture.

I was gifted with the very wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take my University studies in Japan. 4 years of intensive Japanese language and culture, as well as whatever subject I was interest in learning as my major (I chose Journalism). I highly recommend this experience, on a side note, and if anyone late High School or early College age is interested in opportunities like this, I'd be glad to talk to them.

From this unique vantage point I feel I can speak on the matter of Japanese culture as a very well-educated outsider. I don't portend to know the intricacies of Japanese society like a native, but to put it bluntly, when it comes to J-land I have vast universes of knowledge and wisdom over your average Bleach reader.

So, perhaps, you can understand my frustration when some fanboy on a thread somewhere starts spouting "I watched this anime, and Japan is definitly like this", or even "I went to the Tokyo Game Show and Japan is like that". This sort of attitude is sort of like going to your first week of classes and skipping the rest. You're gonna flunk the final.

Americans, both those who identify with Japanese culture and those who space themselves from it, are rife with misconceptions about Japan and the people who call it home.

Here's a few: Japan does NOT have a homeless problem. This is false. There are TONS of homeless in Japan. Here's a fun little game you can play next time you visit the ol' dogleg in the sea: Stay out all night in Tokyo drinking in one of Japan's awesome Izakaya (a Japanese pub), then catch the first train home. But show up about 5 minutes before the first train is scheduled to run. Oh my god. I would put a hundred American dollars (conveniently pre-converted into Japanese yen so you can buy that new Gundam figure) down that you can't count all the homeless lining the subway corridors before the train arrives.

ALL Japanese women go all doe-eyed for American men: This has elements of truth, but I'd have to strike it down. If this were a Mythbusters episode, I'd give it a plausible. Basically, yes, there are numerous Japanese women who have a bit of a fetish for pretty much any non-asian men. But if you think you can show up to a club in Tokyo, flex your muscles and run a hand through your wavy blond hair and the chicks will come running, you're in for a surprise. Japanese women, even the ones who LOVE foreigners, are notoriously difficult to pick up and despite the stereotype, at the end of the day most Japanese women are more interested in your personality and learning English from you, rather than taking you to the nearest love hotel after the first date.

The ever-peaceful Japanese solve all conflicts with an afternoon of zen-like meditation: COMPLETELY false. While the Japanese are raised to resolve conflict peacefully, and they are a far less proud people on the whole than we Americans (I mean pride in the negative sense, here), Japanese men are also raised with the idea that a lot of masculine posturing is a good thing, and as a result when two drunk Japanese men don't see eye-to-eye, a lot of times it ends in a brief fisticuffs. The good thing is, gun and knife control and an attitude of general forgiveness toward drunken antics, means most of these fights are fairly harmless and a lot of times the two opponents end up being friends at the end of the day.

The racist Japanese discriminate against foreigners and you'll never truly be considered "one of them": This is the one I feel strongest about. The fact of the matter is, like any culture, if you go over there as a tourist with no clue about the culture or language, of course no one is going to give you the time of day. I mean, honestly, look how we treat immigrants here in the "land of the free". But showing a willingness to learn and accomodate your hosts, rather than letting them go out of their way for you, goes a long, long, long way. A lot of Japanese can speak pretty basic, fairly well-butchered English, but why should they have to? Take a Japanese phrase book with you and memorize some important ones on the flight there, if you're just going on vacation. If you're in University and plan on ever going to Japan (because, presumably, being a reader of this site you are a gamer and unless all you do is play Halo you probably at least have a desire to go someday), take Japanese. You have frikin' language requirements anyway.

Another big step: If at all possible, make arrangements to stay with a host family during your visit. There are LOADS of them and a quick google search will give you hundreds of households, some English speakers, some not, who love to take in a visitor and teach them a bit about Japanese culture that you can't learn by obsessively watching Death Note.

Even if you're only there for a short visit, learn a bit about the culture, at least try and tackle the language, and your Host Family and the friends you make in Japan will treat you like family for the rest of your life.

Then you too can scoff at the poser fanboys who are oh-so-willing to impart their cavernous and misguided knowledge of the Japanese on you.